China launches first moon rover mission

December 2, 2013: In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, the Long March 3B rocket carrying the Chang'e-3 lunar probe blasts off from the launch pad at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China's Sichuan Province. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Li Gang)

BEIJING – China launched its first mission Monday to land a rover on the moon, an unmanned operation scheduled to arrive in mid-December to start surveying the lunar surface and transmitting images.

A Long March-3B rocket carrying the Chang'e 3 lander blasted off Monday as scheduled at 1:30 a.m. from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

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The launch center's director, Zhang Zhenzhong, declared the launch successful. "We will strive for our space dream as part of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation," Zhang was quoted as saying.

If the Chang'e 3 successfully soft-lands on the moon, China will become the third country to do so, after the United States and the former Soviet Union. A soft landing does not damage the craft and the equipment it carries. An earlier Chinese craft orbited and collected data before intentionally crash-landing on the moon.